To this end, and by a well-founded resolution, the Central Bank of Uruguay shall establish a commission that shall function for an extendible period of 60 (sixty) days.2 It is appropriate to emphasize that the said article gave the Bank the authority to grant a right to those who accredited or complied with the requirements that it established, and it did so under Law No. 17,613, which did not alter the Bank’s inherent nature or task.3 Effectively and in this regard it should be recalled that Law No. 17,613 establishes “norms for the protection and strengthening of the financial system,” conferring “powers on the Central Bank as liquidator of the financial intermediation entities, in order to protect the rights of the depositors of those entities, safeguarding their savings for reasons of general interest.”4 In the same way, it is worth mentioning, on the one hand, that the Bank itself decided, in the resolution establishing the commission, that “[i]n the substantiation of the claims [before the Advisory Committee] the general principles of administrative procedure set out in the Administrative Regulations of the Central Bank of Uruguay [would] be observed ….”5 In this regard, it should be underlined, also as a fact, that the commission required by article 31 “must ‘advise the Board of the Central Bank of Uruguay, insofar as the legislator granted the latter the authority to determine the status as depositor of the Banco de Montevideo S.A (in liquidation) and La Caja Obrera S.A. (in liquidation), in the situation established in the first paragraph of [article 31 of Law 17,613].’ The purpose of the Advisory Commission was to ‘make recommendations,’ but its decisions were not binding for the Board [of the Central Bank], which could diverge from them for wellfounded reasons.”6 2 Para. 77. 3 Art. 190 of the Constitution of the Republic: “The autonomous bodies and the decentralized services shall not conduct business outside the functions they are assigned by law, or dispose of their resources for purposes over and above their normal activities.” Article 196 of the Constitution: “There shall be a Central Bank of the Republic, which shall be organized as an autonomous body and shall have the mandates and powers determined by the law approved with the vote of the absolute majority of all the members of each Chamber.” Article 3 of Law No. 16,696, Central Bank of Uruguay. The Bank’s Charter: “(Purposes). The purposes of the Central Bank of Uruguay shall be: A) To safeguard the stability of the national currency. B) To ensure the normal operation of internal and external payments. C) To maintain an appropriate level of international reserves. D) To promote and maintain the adequate health, solvency and functioning of the national financial system. …” Article 7: “(Powers). The powers of the Banks shall be conducive to achieving the purposes indicated in Article 3. In this regard, the Bank: … G) Shall regulate normatively and shall supervise the execution of those rules by public and private entities that are part of the financial system. To this end, it may authorize or prohibit, totally or in part, operations in general or in particular, as well as establish norms of prudence, good administration or working methods, and shall inform, in the case of the public entities, the Executive Branch, to this effect.” 4 Para. 75. 5 Para. 83. 6 Para. 79. 2